Ocean's Eleven director Steven Soderbergh has been working in secret on a new science fiction series in which Superbad star Michael Cera tasks a team with using a time traveling washing machine to return to 2023 and stop their dystopian future from happening. Titled Command Z, Soderbergh has now released the trailer for the project on his website, with several images and a poster also being unveiled. You can check out the images and poster below, as well as information on what exactly Command Z entails...
“This is historic. Literally,” Cera says as the trailer begins. Introducing us to a dimly lit, grim-looking future involving radiation suits and misery, our central trio will be sent back in time to make some critical fixes to the timeline, and thus make “our present right now, more livable, fair and decent for everyone.” The scientist Michael Cera has determined that 2023 is the moment to return to, putting a wormhole in a washing machine. But that’s not all! The process of time travel requires the team to ingest "a synthetic substance related to psychedelics and playing the theme song from the movie Mahogony." It sounds crazy, and something about Cera, the task, and the technology suggest that everything may not be quite what it seems...
The team chosen for this mission is comprised of Roy Wood Jr. (The Daily Show, Confess, Fletch), JJ Maley, and Chloe Radcliffe (The Alley), with Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Barbie) as the mysterious scientist and Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan, Asteroid City) as one of their targets.
Command Z Is Due for Release Next Week
Coming out of nowhere, Command Z has been independently financed by Steven Soderbergh himself, with the series due to land on his website Extension765.com next week. The series was announced in a cryptic statement from Soderbergh’s production company Extension 765 that reads, “I think by now you’re used to me describing the somewhat mercurial behavior of our boss, Mr/Dr Soderbergh, but this most recent development is next level and can’t be kept to myself for reasons you’ll soon understand…If I seem hedgy, it’s because A) None of us have seen it; and B) it’s apparently about ninety minutes long, but there are eight episodes of varying length, so is it an actual series or just a movie cut up into pieces?”
Whether it be a series or a sliced-up movie, much like everything Soderbergh does, Command Z certainly looks to be an intriguing prospect. Command Z is not the only project to come from Soderbergh this year, with the filmmaker recently debuting the miniseries Full Circle on the streaming platform, Max. Starring Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome, CCH Pounder, Jim Gaffigan, and William Sadler, Full Circle centers on an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present-day New York City.
Command Z is scheduled to premiere on July 17 and will land exclusively on Steven Soderbergh’s website Extension765.com.